1. Related Applications
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application, Ser. No. 60/121,191, filed on Feb. 23, 1999 and directed to a CIRCULATION WARMER.
2. The Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of cold weather gear, and, more particularly, to novel systems and methods for maintaining the warmth, tactile sense, and dexterity of body extremities in a cold environment while leaving the body extremities substantially uncovered.
3. The Background Art
A variety of devices for warming body extremities have been developed by those skilled in the art. Examples of these devices are gloves or mittens for warming hands and fingers, socks for warming feet and toes, and various garments for warming the head and face. These prior art garments are typically formed of cloth comprising natural and/or synthetic fibers or leather. These garments typically operate by substantially covering the body extremity to be warmed thereby capturing the natural heat generated by the body extremity and maintaining the captured heat proximate to the body extremity.
A significant disadvantage of the garments that rely solely on the natural heat generated by the affected body extremity of the type generally described above includes the inability of such garments to maintain the affected body extremity sufficiently warm under extremely cold conditions. To address the aforementioned disadvantage, heated garments include artificial heat sources or heating elements for providing additional heat to maintain the body extremity acceptably warm. Such heated garments (e.g. heated socks, heated gloves, or the like) typically include heating elements that provide heat directly on or around the tissue of the affected body extremity (e.g., hands, fingers, feet, toes, and the like). The heating elements in such prior art devices typically extend substantially throughout the body of the garment. For example, the heating elements in heated gloves of the prior art typically extend substantially throughout the glove body across the palm area and up through the finger arcs. Various types of heating elements have been incorporated into the heated garments, using electrical resistance, slowly combustible materials, and/or chemical reactions to produce heat.
Although seemingly useful for their intended purposes, several practical disadvantages inure to both unheated and heated garments. For example, in the case of heated garments, the extension of heating elements substantially throughout the bodies of such garments often results in provision of more heat than is required thereby causing overheating of the affected body extremity. Especially in the case of heated garments that rely on electrical resistance as a heat source, the extension of the heating element substantially throughout the body of the garment results in rapid depletion of the power source (e.g., typically batteries or other rechargeable source of electricity).
Many forms of work and recreation that require dexterity and tactile sense in the hands and fingers are conducted under cold environmental conditions (e.g., farm work, construction, equipment repair, skiing, hunting, and the like). Another significant disadvantage of heated gloves in particular includes placement of the heating elements throughout the palm and finger areas thereby impeding dexterity and tactile sense in the hand and fingers, which interferes with the work or recreation being conducted by the wearer. The placement of the heating elements throughout the palm and finger areas of heated gloves also causes rapid degradation of the heating elements due to stress and strain caused by bending of the hand and fingers and gripping of objects (e.g., ski poles, tools, equipment, and the like).
Both heated and unheated garments often include excessive amounts of insulation material distributed throughout the bodies of such garments resulting in oversized, cumbersome garments that impede the dexterity and tactile sense of the body extremity with which such garments are used. In an effort to address the problems caused by loss of dexterity and tactile sense in the hands and fingers, devices comprising fingerless gloves having a mitten top can be used to cover, and thus warm, the fingers of the wearer or that can be folded back when increased dexterity and tactile sense in the fingers is desirable. Such fingerless gloves may or may not include an artificial heat source to enhance the warming of the hands and fingers. A significant disadvantage of such fingerless gloves includes the rapid loss of dexterity and tactile sense in the fingers upon folding back the mitten top and exposing the fingers to the cold environmental conditions.
While unheated garments for covering and warming body extremities, as well as artificially heated garments for covering and warming body extremities appear generally suitable for their intended purposes, these garments nevertheless leave much to be desired from the standpoint of effectiveness of operation, functionality as to universal application, simplicity of construction in relation to the extension of heating elements substantially throughout the body of such garments and relatively complex structure, and manufacturing costs. As will be appreciated in this particular art, economic considerations are significant when dealing with the highly competitive garment industry. Relatively complicated devices are frequently found to be commercially impractical. Accordingly, even a slight savings in cost may substantially enhance the commercial appeal of a particular component or assembly when considering issues of mass production of the product.
In accordance therewith, it would be desirable to provide an improved device for warming body extremities that realizes the many advantages of the prior art devices while at the same time eliminating the disadvantages associated therewith. Such an apparatus for warming body extremities under cold environmental conditions without substantially degrading the dexterity and tactile sense of the body extremity is disclosed and claimed herein.